"At a very nice dinner given in my honour by Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, I was doing fine at table conversation until Rudd began a long soliloquy on the history of Australia," he writes.

"I had made it just past World War I when the combined effect of a pain-killer, jet lag, and a glass of wine caused me to fall asleep.

"This led to not-so-subtle attempts by my American colleagues at the table to rouse me.

"Rudd was very gracious about the whole thing; my team less so, as they took raucous delight in making fun of my undiplomatic snooze."

Mr Gates, who had broken his shoulder in three places when he had slipped on ice outside his Washington DC house, said he was "shocked" to wake the next morning and find his entire upper body was black and blue.

"The US Air Force doctor traveling with me called in a couple of Australian physicians, and everyone was puzzled that the bruising had appeared a week after my fall, but in typical Aussie fashion and with good cheer, they said it would take care of itself.

"The rest of the trip was uneventful, if long..."

Rudd 'also recalls nodding off a few times'

A spokesperson for Mr Rudd has brushed off the comments, saying the former prime minister "also recalls nodding off a few times".

"Given the the number of pain-killing drugs he was on when he arrived at The Lodge, Mr Rudd thought it was surprising Mr Gates could remember anything from the evening at all," the spokesperson said.

"Perhaps Mr Gates should have taken up Mr Rudd's suggestion, made to him when he arrived, to forget dinner and just go home to bed.

"Mr Rudd also recalls nodding off a few times himself over the years as foreign minister when the body clock kicked in at the wrong time."

The tell-all book from Mr Gates, who was known for his calm, considered manner while overseeing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has surprised many in Washington.

Among his more interesting observations is that by 2010 US president Barack Obama did not believe in his own "surge" strategy for Afghanistan and "can't stand" Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

The White House was blindsided by the excerpts and has been forced to defend vice-president Joe Biden, who Mr Gates says has been wrong on every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.